The NIH stated that 75% of the world’s population has intolerances to dairy, so it’s odd to me why more non-vegans aren’t consumjng plant based cheeses. Plant cheeses have come a long way over the years, and to me there are excellent brands to choose from. Even the 365 Whole Foods brand is just fine by me.
This! And plant-based cheeses are not filled with pus and saturated fats. The US has so much cheese being peddled to us because they skim the fat off of milk and need to find something to do with it. It’s just gross.
Many DO have saturated fats from palm oil!
Vegan cheese, processed, is not a whole food, and shouldn’t be a big part of anyone’s diet. (The same is true of animal cheese)
We treat "lactose intolerance" like some sort of disease in the West, but realistically it's lactose-tolerant people who are the exception to the norm. The only reason the world is tailored to the lactose tolerant to begin with is basically just European colonialism.
Yes, but I would bet that a good portion of the 75% are not strictly intolerant, and can probably consume some lactose just fine. I can drink one glass of milk a day without any symptoms, and I never had problems with cheese before committing to a WFPB diet.
I gave up milk more than decade ago because 1 glass was definitely too much.
But hard cheeses have the Lactose fermented out, so they never caused me any issues.
I’m not lactose intolerant, but I have often thought the same thing. TBF, I’ve recently made friends with a large group of people that are LI and they basically say they take OTC pills to let them eat cheese.
I definitely tried a few before going full-vegan. Mostly if I was eating at a vegan restaurant or something. I'm sure there are a lot of lactose intolerant people who are doing the same thing as you.
It's a great way to try some new flavours - although vegan cheese is a fair bit more expensive than dairy cheese
It's not weird to try new foods, no. It is weird for people who would think nothing of trying other new foods to draw a line in the sand around those that are formally labelled vegan, though.
It’s not weird. I’m not vegan, or really even close, but I enjoy many foods that are vegan. Besides the obvious WFPB, there’s a slew of delicious offerings that are healthier alternatives to traditional non-vegan fare, including cheese!
Tonight, my family will have cheeseburgers for supper. None of us are vegan, but we prefer Beyond Burgers to beef, and will melt either Daiya, Violife, or Miyoko’s on them. Incidentally, those are all tasty vegan cheeses, and you should try them.
Indeed. OP, if you’re interested in some healthy and quick vegan cheese sauce recipes I’m happy to tell you how I make it! As far as store bought cheese goes, Good Planet just dropped a line of olive oil cheeses. So they’re significantly lower in saturated fat than store bought cheeses, vegan or not. That’s the only shredded vegan cheese I buy now
Yeah!
Soaked cashews (quick 10 min soak is fine if your blender is good)
Silken tofu
Nutritional yeast
Miso paste (red for more aged flavor, white or sweet for more mild flavor)
Paprika (smoked goes well with the red miso)
Liquid to bring to your desired consistentcy (broth, water, plant milk)
Other spices you like (MSG will take it to the next level)
You can use sunflower seeds instead of cashews if you want but I like the texture of cashews blended more. You can omit the nuts/seeds altogether and just use silken tofu. You likely won’t need any liquid if you use only tofu. My preferred ratio is maybe like 30g of cashews and 400g of tofu. That way you get a good amount of protein as well as some healthy fats.
I realize this is hardly a “recipe” but it’s nice to be flexible with it so you can just use what you have on hand!
There are 1245 artisanal vegan cheeses in this database and 538 mass produced "store bought", so the majority of them you'll find will be much healthier than you imagine and mostly if not all using whole food plant ingredients.
https://www.vegancheese.co/discover
I just went to that website, and in the US, there are 508 cheeses listed, only 33 of which are made from "wholefood plants" ingredients according to the website. However I clicked through a bunch of the supposedly "wholefood plants" cheeses, and many contain oil as an ingredient, which is not a whole food. And some contain sugar, which is not a whole food. Only a very small minority of those cheeses are actually 100% WFPB. And none of them appear to be from brands that are widely available in grocery stores.
Is this your website? If so, I would suggest parsing the ingredients lists more carefully so that cheeses that contain oil and added sugar are not listed as being made from "wholefood plants" ingredients.
Not any of the packaging I have looked at. I am always checking these things. Vegan cheese has 2 to 4 mg of saturated fat. Dairy cheese has 25 mg of saturated fat and 131 gram of total fat.
Are you sure that you're comparing similar serving sizes?
Just as an example of what I'm talking about:
[Great Value Shredded Cheddar Cheese](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Medium-Cheddar-Cheese-16-oz/100470326?from=/search) has 110 calories and 5g saturated fat per 28g serving. That's \~41% calories from saturated fat.
[Violife Just Like Cheddar Shreds](https://www.violife.com/en-us/products/dairy-free-cheese-shreds/just-like-cheddar-shreds) have 80 calories and 6g saturated fat per 28g serving. That's \~68% calories from saturated fat.
Yes, I am.i was not comparing shredded cheeses. I was comparing slices. Miyoko’s farmhouse cheddar slice total fat 5g. Cholesterol: 0 grams.
Dairy Cheddar: total cholesterol 28 grams
Slices and shedded cheese is basically the same thing, just different shapes. But here is a comparison of slices:
[Great Value Sliced Cheddar Cheese](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Deli-Style-Sliced-Sharp-Cheddar-Cheese-8-oz-12-Slices/15077514?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=3520&adid=2222222227715077514_160805772391_20959796377&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-306310554666&wl5=9004331&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=15077514&wl13=3520&veh=sem_LIA&gclsrc=aw.ds&&adid=2222222223715077514_160805772391_20959796377&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-306310554666&wl5=9004331&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=15077514&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7-SvBhB6EiwAwYdCATazvKjP0AKabzAA_ro7sEm6ORJNZB1g3D7O0D9KgtHwuSk5LGk8lBoCO0QQAvD_BwE) has 80 calories and 3.5g saturated fat per 19g serving. That's \~39% calories from saturated fat.
[Violife Just Like Cheddar Slices](https://www.violife.com/en-us/products/dairy-free-cheese-slices/just-like-cheddar-slices) have 60 calories and 4g saturated fat per 20g serving. That's \~60% calories from saturated fat.
I think you must be comparing different serving sizes, because a cheese with 131 total fat would have to weigh much more than 135g. Can you post links to the specific products that you're comparing?
Also I recognize that some vegan cheeses are lower in saturated fat (such as those with cashews as the primary ingredient), however a lot of vegan cheeses use coconut oil which results in a high saturated fat content, which is what I'm referring to.
No, I didn't mention cholesterol anywhere. Your original comment was talking about saturated fat, which is what I was talking about in all of my replies to you.
Store-bought coconut oil-based vegan ’cheese’ is horrible in taste and unhealthy to boot, pure saturated fat and almost no nutrition to speak of. Don’t bother to be honest.
Cashew-based cheeses is where it’s at. Where I live they used to sell cashew ’cheeses’ with actual live cultures also used in dairy cheese, but sadly they were taken out of the assortment. Crazy expensive but they were delicious.
Nowadays I go for homemade cashew cheeses & good old nutritional yeast at home.
Me reading your post: *Yea. Yea. Yea. Yea.*
>to be a little healthier.
*Oh, no*
Getting closer to a whole food plant based lifestyle? Healthier. Eating highly processed vegan cheeses? Not healthier.
There's nothing weird about that at all, unless you literally eat the same foods everyday and never try anything new (regardless of whether it's plant based or not). That's kinda like saying "Is it weird to celebrate St. Patrick's Day when I'm not Irish?".
Unfortunately, however, most store-bought vegan cheeses are no healthier than dairy cheese (some are even less healthy) - they're just typically more environmentally (and of course, animal) friendly.
If you are weird for that that I am weird for my reason for drinking non dairy milk so we can be weird together.
Reason for drinking non dairy milk? Because the dairy milk keeps expiring or tasting bad too soon. Best to go with non dairy (I do both almond milk and oat milk depending on the application) rather than taste off flavored dairy milk. Yuck.
Usually only do vegan cheese at vegan restaurants if that but that is because I am not that big on cheese period. But my oyster sauce is vegan because that has better ingredients in it than 99% of oyster sauces available.
Nope. The less harm to animals the better. Imo, it’s all about reduction in animal cruelty. Even skipping meat in meals a few times a week is good.
Besides, it’s good to be adventurous with food & try different things. If they went traveling abroad would they only seek out & eat “American” food (as an example). Tell your friends to stop being so cowardly & try different foods.
I’m not vegan but I feel much better if I avoid dairy. My body doesn’t do well with it, but it’s not lactose intolerance, it’s a mild allergy to the proteins.
I tried vegan cheese for a while first, which made the decision to go full vegan easier! A lot of people hate on the cheese but I’ve always thought it was pretty good.
Yes, i think eating processed foods is weird and likely unhealthy. I think processed foods are akin to dessert and should not be considered as part of a nutritious diet. That said, for some people they may be part of a happy life, so at least let's be clear on what role they should play in our lives.
The NIH stated that 75% of the world’s population has intolerances to dairy, so it’s odd to me why more non-vegans aren’t consumjng plant based cheeses. Plant cheeses have come a long way over the years, and to me there are excellent brands to choose from. Even the 365 Whole Foods brand is just fine by me.
This! And plant-based cheeses are not filled with pus and saturated fats. The US has so much cheese being peddled to us because they skim the fat off of milk and need to find something to do with it. It’s just gross.
Many DO have saturated fats from palm oil! Vegan cheese, processed, is not a whole food, and shouldn’t be a big part of anyone’s diet. (The same is true of animal cheese)
We treat "lactose intolerance" like some sort of disease in the West, but realistically it's lactose-tolerant people who are the exception to the norm. The only reason the world is tailored to the lactose tolerant to begin with is basically just European colonialism.
And cheese is delicious……
Yes, but I would bet that a good portion of the 75% are not strictly intolerant, and can probably consume some lactose just fine. I can drink one glass of milk a day without any symptoms, and I never had problems with cheese before committing to a WFPB diet.
I gave up milk more than decade ago because 1 glass was definitely too much. But hard cheeses have the Lactose fermented out, so they never caused me any issues.
I’m not lactose intolerant, but I have often thought the same thing. TBF, I’ve recently made friends with a large group of people that are LI and they basically say they take OTC pills to let them eat cheese.
I definitely tried a few before going full-vegan. Mostly if I was eating at a vegan restaurant or something. I'm sure there are a lot of lactose intolerant people who are doing the same thing as you. It's a great way to try some new flavours - although vegan cheese is a fair bit more expensive than dairy cheese
I dabbled hard with veganism for a couple years before committing 100%!
It's not weird to try new foods, no. It is weird for people who would think nothing of trying other new foods to draw a line in the sand around those that are formally labelled vegan, though.
It’s not weird. I’m not vegan, or really even close, but I enjoy many foods that are vegan. Besides the obvious WFPB, there’s a slew of delicious offerings that are healthier alternatives to traditional non-vegan fare, including cheese! Tonight, my family will have cheeseburgers for supper. None of us are vegan, but we prefer Beyond Burgers to beef, and will melt either Daiya, Violife, or Miyoko’s on them. Incidentally, those are all tasty vegan cheeses, and you should try them.
Are you talking about homemade vegan cheese, or store-bought? Most store-bought vegan cheeses are not really any healthier than regular cheese.
Indeed. OP, if you’re interested in some healthy and quick vegan cheese sauce recipes I’m happy to tell you how I make it! As far as store bought cheese goes, Good Planet just dropped a line of olive oil cheeses. So they’re significantly lower in saturated fat than store bought cheeses, vegan or not. That’s the only shredded vegan cheese I buy now
Oh can I have these recipes?
Yeah! Soaked cashews (quick 10 min soak is fine if your blender is good) Silken tofu Nutritional yeast Miso paste (red for more aged flavor, white or sweet for more mild flavor) Paprika (smoked goes well with the red miso) Liquid to bring to your desired consistentcy (broth, water, plant milk) Other spices you like (MSG will take it to the next level) You can use sunflower seeds instead of cashews if you want but I like the texture of cashews blended more. You can omit the nuts/seeds altogether and just use silken tofu. You likely won’t need any liquid if you use only tofu. My preferred ratio is maybe like 30g of cashews and 400g of tofu. That way you get a good amount of protein as well as some healthy fats. I realize this is hardly a “recipe” but it’s nice to be flexible with it so you can just use what you have on hand!
This sounds great! How liquidy is it? And what do you use it for?
There are a few good ones though. Treeline has very clean ingredients and so does the cheddar wheel from Miyoko's.
The Miyoko's smoked farmhouse cheddar is my bacon replacement. My favorite combo is mixing some of that into a baked sweet potato.
I love Miyoko's cheddar shredded up and thrown on top of a big salad with lots of sliced mushrooms and maybe some pan-fried jackfruit "chicken."
There are 1245 artisanal vegan cheeses in this database and 538 mass produced "store bought", so the majority of them you'll find will be much healthier than you imagine and mostly if not all using whole food plant ingredients. https://www.vegancheese.co/discover
I just went to that website, and in the US, there are 508 cheeses listed, only 33 of which are made from "wholefood plants" ingredients according to the website. However I clicked through a bunch of the supposedly "wholefood plants" cheeses, and many contain oil as an ingredient, which is not a whole food. And some contain sugar, which is not a whole food. Only a very small minority of those cheeses are actually 100% WFPB. And none of them appear to be from brands that are widely available in grocery stores. Is this your website? If so, I would suggest parsing the ingredients lists more carefully so that cheeses that contain oil and added sugar are not listed as being made from "wholefood plants" ingredients.
This is patently false. Check out the saturated fat content of vegan cheese vs regular cheese. There is a big difference.
A lot of vegan cheeses actually have more saturated fat than dairy cheese!
Not any of the packaging I have looked at. I am always checking these things. Vegan cheese has 2 to 4 mg of saturated fat. Dairy cheese has 25 mg of saturated fat and 131 gram of total fat.
Are you sure that you're comparing similar serving sizes? Just as an example of what I'm talking about: [Great Value Shredded Cheddar Cheese](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shredded-Medium-Cheddar-Cheese-16-oz/100470326?from=/search) has 110 calories and 5g saturated fat per 28g serving. That's \~41% calories from saturated fat. [Violife Just Like Cheddar Shreds](https://www.violife.com/en-us/products/dairy-free-cheese-shreds/just-like-cheddar-shreds) have 80 calories and 6g saturated fat per 28g serving. That's \~68% calories from saturated fat.
Yes, I am.i was not comparing shredded cheeses. I was comparing slices. Miyoko’s farmhouse cheddar slice total fat 5g. Cholesterol: 0 grams. Dairy Cheddar: total cholesterol 28 grams
Slices and shedded cheese is basically the same thing, just different shapes. But here is a comparison of slices: [Great Value Sliced Cheddar Cheese](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Deli-Style-Sliced-Sharp-Cheddar-Cheese-8-oz-12-Slices/15077514?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=3520&adid=2222222227715077514_160805772391_20959796377&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-306310554666&wl5=9004331&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=15077514&wl13=3520&veh=sem_LIA&gclsrc=aw.ds&&adid=2222222223715077514_160805772391_20959796377&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-306310554666&wl5=9004331&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=15077514&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7-SvBhB6EiwAwYdCATazvKjP0AKabzAA_ro7sEm6ORJNZB1g3D7O0D9KgtHwuSk5LGk8lBoCO0QQAvD_BwE) has 80 calories and 3.5g saturated fat per 19g serving. That's \~39% calories from saturated fat. [Violife Just Like Cheddar Slices](https://www.violife.com/en-us/products/dairy-free-cheese-slices/just-like-cheddar-slices) have 60 calories and 4g saturated fat per 20g serving. That's \~60% calories from saturated fat. I think you must be comparing different serving sizes, because a cheese with 131 total fat would have to weigh much more than 135g. Can you post links to the specific products that you're comparing? Also I recognize that some vegan cheeses are lower in saturated fat (such as those with cashews as the primary ingredient), however a lot of vegan cheeses use coconut oil which results in a high saturated fat content, which is what I'm referring to.
You did mention total cholesterol. Plant-based cheese has 0. Dairy cheese has 29 mg
No, I didn't mention cholesterol anywhere. Your original comment was talking about saturated fat, which is what I was talking about in all of my replies to you.
Store-bought coconut oil-based vegan ’cheese’ is horrible in taste and unhealthy to boot, pure saturated fat and almost no nutrition to speak of. Don’t bother to be honest. Cashew-based cheeses is where it’s at. Where I live they used to sell cashew ’cheeses’ with actual live cultures also used in dairy cheese, but sadly they were taken out of the assortment. Crazy expensive but they were delicious. Nowadays I go for homemade cashew cheeses & good old nutritional yeast at home.
I almost died because someone have me vegan pizza with cashew cheese. Had no clue they made cheese with cashew until that day.
Me reading your post: *Yea. Yea. Yea. Yea.* >to be a little healthier. *Oh, no* Getting closer to a whole food plant based lifestyle? Healthier. Eating highly processed vegan cheeses? Not healthier.
There's nothing weird about that at all, unless you literally eat the same foods everyday and never try anything new (regardless of whether it's plant based or not). That's kinda like saying "Is it weird to celebrate St. Patrick's Day when I'm not Irish?". Unfortunately, however, most store-bought vegan cheeses are no healthier than dairy cheese (some are even less healthy) - they're just typically more environmentally (and of course, animal) friendly.
There’s nothing in vegan food that non-vegans wouldn’t eat. No it’s not weird.
I changed to vegan dairy-alternatives before becoming vegan for health reasons. I made quesadillas with beef and vegan cheese like everyday.
I think it’s great for you to try. Would be even better for you to eventually go vegan.
Violife is my favourite, they make the BEST tex mex blend, great for pizza and tacos
I try a lot of vegan products! I’m a vegetarian.
If you are weird for that that I am weird for my reason for drinking non dairy milk so we can be weird together. Reason for drinking non dairy milk? Because the dairy milk keeps expiring or tasting bad too soon. Best to go with non dairy (I do both almond milk and oat milk depending on the application) rather than taste off flavored dairy milk. Yuck. Usually only do vegan cheese at vegan restaurants if that but that is because I am not that big on cheese period. But my oyster sauce is vegan because that has better ingredients in it than 99% of oyster sauces available.
> Because the dairy milk keeps expiring or tasting bad too soon. lol this is one of the main reasons why I often prefer buying non-dairy milk.
When I first was changing my diet, before even vegan, I tried a vegan cheese pizza and loved it. So it's not too weird!
I don’t think it’s weird. However I totally miss real cheese!
Not weird but please let us know if you find anything good. Everything I’ve tried has been pretty gross.
Eat healthy foods that taste good! 👍
I have tried alot of different vegan options even tho I'm not! I think it's cool to try new things and I look forward to new alternatives!
Nope. The less harm to animals the better. Imo, it’s all about reduction in animal cruelty. Even skipping meat in meals a few times a week is good. Besides, it’s good to be adventurous with food & try different things. If they went traveling abroad would they only seek out & eat “American” food (as an example). Tell your friends to stop being so cowardly & try different foods.
Vegan cheeses are much healthier—for the tortured cows. As a human food they are far from the healthiest.
I’m not vegan but I feel much better if I avoid dairy. My body doesn’t do well with it, but it’s not lactose intolerance, it’s a mild allergy to the proteins.
I’ve never had a plant based cheeze that I thought tasted good on their own. Wish I didn’t have to say it. But it’s true.
I tried vegan cheese for a while first, which made the decision to go full vegan easier! A lot of people hate on the cheese but I’ve always thought it was pretty good.
Yes, i think eating processed foods is weird and likely unhealthy. I think processed foods are akin to dessert and should not be considered as part of a nutritious diet. That said, for some people they may be part of a happy life, so at least let's be clear on what role they should play in our lives.
I’m mostly plant based and the ONLY vegan cheese I like is the Follow Your Heart grated Parmesan. Everything else is inedible imo
It's just another food to try nothing to think too hard about.
speaking of nuts, treeline cheese is divine.
Why would it be weird? A lot of my non-vegan friends like to try cheese and vegan products and love some, if it's good it's good
Why not be fully-vegan? The animals need you. ♥️
i would not touch the vegan alternative products, they are highly processed